This application claims priority to GB Patent Application No. 1410372.5 filed 11 Jun. 2014, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
This disclosure relates to the field of data processing systems. More particularly, this disclosure relates to the field of value lookup within data processing systems.
It is known to provide data processing systems with a wide variety of different forms of data storage mechanisms. These mechanisms may include various levels of cache memory, multiple main memories, coherent memory systems and the like. In some data processing systems it is desirable to be able to perform multiple data access operations in parallel. A problem with this type of arrangement is that if the data being accessed is stored within a single data structure, then this data structure needs to provide multiple access ports. There are complexity, robustness, cost and power overheads associated with providing memories with multiple access ports. An alternative approach is to duplicate the memory such that each memory may have a single access port. However, this approach increases circuit area, cost and power consumption.